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Fiat brand chief reassigned then resigns amid flagging sales

Jason Stoicevich was replaced as head of the Fiat brand in North America just the other day. He was immediately reassigned to another job within Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. But according to Automotive News, Stoicevich quit the new job – and the company altogether – the very next day. The development comes amidst flagging sales for the Fiat brand in America. The introduction of the awkward-looking 500L multi-purpose vehicle has been largely regarded as a sales disaster in the US. Despite having just introduced the new 500X into the growing crossover market, and an overall upward trend across FCA group sales, the Fiat brand's figures have been dropping all year. While the Italian brand's volume has fluctuated from month to month compared to last year's sales, the number of cars its dealers sells on an average day has been firmly in decline. Fiat's downward trend reflects a general tendency in the market towards larger vehicles at the expense of smaller ones. However, the powers that be in Auburn Hills evidently felt that a change of leadership was in order, so it placed Dodge chief Tim Kuniskis in charge of all the company's mass-market passenger-car brands – namely Dodge, Chrysler, and Fiat – and moved Stoicevich to running the group's fleet and small-business operations. Stoicevich remained in charge of the company's California Business Center, but it seems as though he was as dissatisfied with the switch as his superiors were with the performance of the brand over which he presided, and so he apparently elected to step down and leave the company.

The Dodge Demon's massive drag tires are just barely street legal

Despite the gaffe that was the Vin Dieselgate leak (no, not that one), Dodge and SRT are soldiering on with the twelve-part Dodge Demon rollout in the lead up to the car's reveal at the New York Auto Show. The Vin Diesel video showed what is almost assuredly the car's front, but now we get an official view of the Demon's rear in this week's video, "Wide Body." Along with the new view, Dodge shows off a cryptic license plate (Michigan #2576@35) and details on the Demon's tantalizing wheel and tire combo. That wheel and tire combo, meant to fill out the Demon's new wide wheel arches, is frankly impressive. Lightweight 18- by 11-inch wheels are wrapped in special Demon branded Nitto NT05R tires measuring an astounding 315/40R18 at all four corners. Not only does that trump the old Camaro Z/28's 305 section tires, it makes the Demon the first production car to come equipped from the factory with drag radials, claims Dodge. Presumably, the goal with the Demon is to provide enough power and grip to rotate the Earth underneath the car rather than propelling the car itself down a dragstrip. Beyond that, few other details were revealed. Dodge provided some vague information about how the "wide-body is laser clearanced, and the entire chassis is e-coated for durability before final assembly," but doesn't actually explain what that really means. We do know now that the flared fenders add 3.5 inches to the Demon's overall width. Overall, the car looks mean and purposeful, especially wrapped in just barely street-legal rubber. Follow along at www.ifyouknowyouknow.com and see if you can find and decipher all the hints. Related Video: Design/Style New York Auto Show Dodge Coupe Performance tires dodge demon dodge hellcat

Chrysler expecting up to 200,000 9-speed transmissions for 3 models this year

Striving for improved fuel economy, we already knew that Chrysler will begin using a nine-speed automatic transmission in some of its new products this year, but what we haven't known is that volume at which this gearbox will be used. According to Bloomberg, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has been quoted as saying that the automaker expects to sell close to 200,000 units equipped with this new transmission in 2013. Those gear-rich trannies will be spread out across three models, consisting of the redesigned Chrysler 200, the still-unnamed Jeep Liberty replacement and the Dodge Dart.
This transmission should play a pivotal role in making Chrysler vehicles more competitive in their respective segments. Just for comparison, one of the Dart's key competitors, the Toyota Corolla, still uses a four-speed automatic, and a previous report indicates that the next-generation 200 could get up to 38 miles per gallon on the highway, which is better than most non-hybrid midsize sedans on the market. Marchionne says that the new Jeep model is expected during the second quarter of this year, but there is no word as to when the new 200 or nine-speed Dart will debut, but clearly Dodge would like to have the transmission in its compact yesterday. As for that volume figure, it definitely doesn't seem out of reach since the Dart, Liberty and 200 combined for a total of more than 225,000 units in 2012.
How many more gears can we expect in future cars? Probably not many more, since the CEO of transmission-builder ZF, Stefan Sommer, previously stated that nine speeds was the "natural limit" for transmissions.